Ankura Consulting (Ankura) announced today that human capital consultants Gerard F. McDonough, founder and chief executive officer of LeadFirst Learning Systems, LLC (LeadFirst), and David M. Lynn, LeadFirst's executive vice president, have joined the firm. Mr. McDonough will be a Senior Managing Director and Mr. Lynn will be a Managing Director, both based out of New York.

While at LeadFirst, both have advised investors, boards of directors, and corporate executive leaders on issues of human capital deployment, culture formation, team performance and effective leadership strategies for more than three decades. Their mission has been the improvement of business results through people.

Gerard F. McDonough developed the proprietary Human Equity Value methodology and has expertise in the disciplines of enterprise-level culture shaping, organizational design, merger and acquisition integration, change execution, and executive-level leadership and team development. Before founding LeadFirst, Mr. McDonough was senior vice president of customer value analytics for Bank of America. Earlier in his career, he was founder and managing principal of Booth Morgan Consulting, a customer-value strategy consulting firm. He also held senior positions with two successful leadership development and culture change companies, as the vice president of the business intelligence division at The Atlanta Consulting Group, and as the mid-Atlantic regional director of strategic services for Zenger-Miller, Inc.

David M. Lynn's career includes experience as an executive in the professional services, technology, and consulting industries and includes developing and leading strategic initiatives with some of the world's most recognized brands and most widely respected organizations. He has been responsible for many of LeadFirst's strategic client engagements including enterprise-wide business strategy, culture shaping, and executive development initiatives.

Ankura Co-President Kevin Lavin commented, "Gerry and David's proprietary methodologies, including value-driven human capital models, will greatly broaden our ability to assist clients with meaningful insights, and improved profitability. We are very excited about Gerry and David joining Ankura. "

Mr. McDonough stated, "Clearly, Ankura is committed to assembling a talent force of world-class professionals within a highly collaborative culture capable of bringing breakthrough results to its clients. Our human capital expertise through LeadFirst's processes and technologies fits in very well with Ankura's existing service offerings. We are very enthusiastic to be part of this dynamic, growing firm."

About Ankura Consulting

Ankura Consulting, an independent business advisory and expert services firm, is defined by a culture of collaboration and focused on delivering unrivaled depths of knowledge to clients, addressing important opportunities and critical choices every day. Our Cybersecurity & Geopolitical, Investigations & Accounting Advisory, Litigation & Disputes, Regulatory & Contractual Compliance, and Turnaround & Restructuring professionals are proven cross-disciplinary and cross-industry experts who create the diverse and dynamic solutions required to navigate today's complicated world. At Ankura, we know that collaboration drives results.